Hockey: Spits missed

It was good news for hockey player Blair Stayzer, but bad news for some of the children with whom he has been working.

After four years with the Windsor Spitfires, Stayzer finally made the Johnstown Chiefs hockey organization, which is affiliated with the Calgary Flames. The forward is No. 67 for the Pennsylvania-based team, playing in the East Coast Hockey League.

Anne Brinkman of Windsor, the mother of Eric, a disabled 13-year-old boy, remembers her husband and son going to the Spitfires' games, sitting right behind the glass.

"When he was on the ice, Blair always paid attention to Eric, knocking on the glass," says Brinkman. "He knew Eric liked the attention.

"Eric doesn't speak. He is in a wheelchair with severe brain damage, and is quadriplegic. He is also very emotional. If you mention Blair's name, he smiles, his eyes get big, he's very happy. Blair would always come and visit.

"Blair is a really good guy, always paying attention -- not just with Eric, but with a lot of kids," she says. "You could see at the arena, kids had signs with Blair's name. He let them get to know him too. He's a pretty sensitive guy.

"It makes me mad that Blair made an (NHL team's) training camp, and nothing is in the newspaper."

When some of the Spitfire players were invited to the NHL team's camps, fans were only counting on two of them to "make it" with those teams. Stayzer wasn't one of them.

The assistant coach of the hockey team at the University of Windsor, Craig Russett, is always looking to recruit former "Spits" who don't make the NHL. He was also surprised.

"That's great! Stayzer? Are you sure? Wow. I'd have expected (Spitfire Steve) Ott to make it," Russett said.

Stayzer was drafted by the Flames in the seventh round (190th overall) last year, yet he is the only one making a higher level team from all the Windsor players who went to NHL training camps that season.

With all the hockey and traveling, Stayzer probably won't go back to school anytime soon.

When studying at St. Clair College, in Windsor, Ontario, he wanted to get into Early Childhood Education, but found it too hard to manage the workload.

"Hockey practice, school, work -- it was too much to do it all, so that is why I took only two courses for the semester," he recalled. "Then it wasn't that hard."

While playing hockey and studying, he was also a volunteer at the Children's Rehabilitation Centre of Essex County for two years.

"Two to three days a week, I was helping kids and teenagers with disabilities, tutoring them with homework, feeding and changing them," he explained.

He really enjoyed the job because he loves children. That is what he would like to do if he had to stop playing hockey.

Stayzer mentioned having been through a very difficult adolescence, which is how he developed the sense of listening and the sense of giving attention to young people.

Dawn Telfer was his roommate two summers ago. She says he is a very easy-going person, very good guy, very good friend -- "the type of person who's always there for you, like when you need something or when you're upset," she said.

"There's a lot of things he did for me, for my roommate Kim, for everyone. When you feel down, he's always able to look at something positive. He always tries to find the good in the problem, to get you into the right direction. He's very encouraging."

Stayzer's positive character helped him to achieve his goals (excuse the hockey pun), and he believes people should have the same can-do attitude.

"When things seem like at the end of your rope, just don't give up," he said. "I had my shoulders operated on, and I haven't quit. Things could be a lot worse. Stay disciplined, keep at it and persevere."

Who said that being nice doesn't pay off?